Dominant species Plaga

Dominant species Plagas (支配種プラーガ,shihai-shu purāga?) are a genetically engineered species or group of species within the Plaga genus. They are distinguished from their recessive counterpart species by the relationships they have with humans and with their fellow Plagas, as well as their more frequent tendencies to cause mutations in hosts. They were experimented on for B.O.W. research by companies such as TRICELL.

Concept

Dominant species Plagas are capable of heavily distorting the host body.

Dominant species Plagas are named as such because they are not susceptible to the ultrasound-based orders that regular, "subordinate" Plagas follow. Unlike regular Plagas, dominant species Plagas did not affect the host's consciousness, allowing for higher levels of cognitive thought and speech. However, this also meant that hosts of a dominant species Plaga were impossible for the likes of Osmund Saddler to control, forcing those seeking to weaponize the parasites to choose their hosts with extreme caution.[1]

As shown with Jack Krauser, Ramon Salazar, and Bitores Mendez, it seems that the host is responsible - at least with Los Iluminados' version - for triggering the parasite's sudden, dramatic mutation and mutilation of the host body. Since no two individuals infected with a dominant species Plaga appeared to exhibit the same transformation, it is believed that the mutations are affected by either the host's immediate environment or by the host's will at the time. An example is Ricardo Irving's transformation into a massive aquatic beast after injecting himself with a dominant species Plaga after the parasite adapted to the immediate environment.

In the case of Irving and Salazar, the human host's body also gets partially enveloped in a fleshy cocoon, often leaving their right arm exposed as well as the left sides of their face fused with part of the membrane while connected to a far larger beast-like Plaga form, as well as protected by the beast's "mouth." However, of the two, only Irving's transformation was the direct result of his own injected Plaga, as Salazar's transformation was the result of him and his remaining Verdugo guard fusing with the Queen Plaga.

During East Slavic Civil War, the Dominant species variant of a new Plaga type was developed in cultivation lab underground of the Presidential Palace in Holigrad and was given to the elders of the Pro-independence forces to use in fighting against the governmental forces. They were used by Ivan Judanovich and Alexander Kozachenko to control masses of Licker β. As noted by Ada however, this variation proved to be flawed as they will gradually regress into Recessive type, which was deliberated in Svetlana Belikova's part as a secret plan to destroy the rebels' leadership.[2]

Further notes

In Resident Evil 4, the name for these Plagas was localised as "Master Plaga".[3]

In Resident Evil: Damnation, this name was instead given as the "dominant-strain". While using the same Plaga, "strain" in English would be better suited to plant and microbe taxonomy rather than an animal.